In the original Julian calendar, the year started with January, named after Janus, the Roman god of beginnings. He was two-faced, so he looked back at the old year and forward to the new year.
"Originally, January 1 was the date of the new year in the Julian calendar, but after the fall of the Roman Empire, the date gradually changed in various parts of Europe to March 25, to conform with Christian festival of the Annunciation. England adopted March 25th as New Year's day in the twelfth century."
It changed here in 1752 with the adoption of the Gregorian calendar.
Ahh thank you! I didnt know I was misinformed about this. I though two months where added by the Romans?
But from what you say, would that make my math incorrect or is it still accurate since the months on the old calendar would be minus 2 when written down.
I took Latin in school, and the month names being two off was explained to us then. Also the part about where the names of July and August came from. They were originally called Quintilis and Sextilis for five and six.
What's really amazing is that I remember this after more than 50 years.
Says here I'm correct and it was originally 10 months
The original Roman calendar is believed to have been a lunar calendar, which may have been based on one of the Greek lunar calendars. As the time between new moons averages 29.5 days, its months were constructed to be either hollow (29 days) or full (30 days).
KING ROMULUS -
The original Roman calendar was said to have been invented by Romulus, the first king of Rome, around 753 BCE. The calendar started the year in March (Martius) and consisted of 10 months, with 6 months of 30 days and 4 months of 31 days. The winter season was not assigned to any month, so the calendar year only lasted 304 days with 61 days unaccounted for in the winter.
Calendar of King Romulus:
Martius - 31 Days
Aprilis - 30 Days
Maius - 31 Days
Iunius - 30 Days
Quintilis - 31 Days
Sextilis - 30 Days
September - 30 Days
October - 31 Days
November - 30 Days
December - 30 Days
Now subtract 2 from each total, because the elites calander doesnt have January or February.
september october november
Sept, Oct, Nov, is 7, 8, 9.
There are 10 months in the elite calendar.
So in the elite calendar the numbers add up to 66, 66, and 66
Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar added the two months (July, August) that threw off the 7,8,9 thing.
Edit: or maybe they just renamed a couple of months that already existed. I don't know.
That's correct.
Nope. The year used to start in March. When the start of the year was moved to January, that threw it off.
July and August were just named after the Caesars.
Interesting. When and why did this happen?
In the original Julian calendar, the year started with January, named after Janus, the Roman god of beginnings. He was two-faced, so he looked back at the old year and forward to the new year.
"Originally, January 1 was the date of the new year in the Julian calendar, but after the fall of the Roman Empire, the date gradually changed in various parts of Europe to March 25, to conform with Christian festival of the Annunciation. England adopted March 25th as New Year's day in the twelfth century."
It changed here in 1752 with the adoption of the Gregorian calendar.
There are 12 months, but the year used to start in March. That made December the 10th month.
Ahh thank you! I didnt know I was misinformed about this. I though two months where added by the Romans?
But from what you say, would that make my math incorrect or is it still accurate since the months on the old calendar would be minus 2 when written down.
The numbers are current, so still 68.
I took Latin in school, and the month names being two off was explained to us then. Also the part about where the names of July and August came from. They were originally called Quintilis and Sextilis for five and six.
What's really amazing is that I remember this after more than 50 years.
Says here I'm correct and it was originally 10 months
Martius - 31 Days Aprilis - 30 Days Maius - 31 Days Iunius - 30 Days Quintilis - 31 Days Sextilis - 30 Days September - 30 Days October - 31 Days November - 30 Days December - 30 Days